


Took You Long Enough

by Souless_Robot



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! GX
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Emotional Chazz, Happy Ending, Light Angst, M/M, Miscommunication, Rarepair, Soulmates, first words said are tattooed, the real super power was communication all along, ygocollablove
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:07:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29225184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Souless_Robot/pseuds/Souless_Robot
Summary: Soulmates are a universal phenomenon. The first words a person speaks to their soulmate are forever scripted somewhere on their body. It was an event Chazz had been waiting for his whole life so how did the universe decide that this asshole was his perfect match?AKA Chazz discovers he's Edo's soulmate in their first live professional duel. He's not happy about it.
Relationships: Manjoume Jun | Chazz Princeton/Edo Phoenix | Aster Phoenix
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Took You Long Enough

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chancellorxofxtrash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chancellorxofxtrash/gifts).



> So this was originally supposed to be for ship awareness month over at the ygocollablove for the prompts soulmate trope - first sentence and "Someone's popular today." Except it was supposed to be humourous fic about Aster continuing to break into Chazz's apartment using his vigilante skills until he accepted him. Instead, Chazz was dramatic and it took a slightly angsty flavor! Also gifting this to chancellorxoftrash who turned me onto this rarepair and put out some great content for this ship!

The words were the lifeblood of a soul bond once one-half of the bond spoke the words to the other the words would appear somewhere on their body. The bond wouldn’t be complete though until both sets of words were said. Chazz knew all of this but that didn’t make his blank skin any easier to deal with. 

He stared at his bare body in the mirror. It was as scriptless as it had ever been. He sighed and buttoned up his shirt. Even Jaden Yuki the densest human being on the planet had found his soulmates, that’s right soulmates plural! One was Jesse Anderson of course. The two practically gave up rainbows when they were around each other. The mushiness was disgusting. Jaden’s other match was more complicated. Chazz still couldn’t wrap his head around how exactly a duel spirit could also be someone’s soul mate but he would forever be thankful that the universe didn’t hate him enough to make the Ojamas his matches. 

Still, practically everyone in his Duel Academy graduating class had found their soulmates, before or shortly after they graduated, and here he was twenty and without even the faintest idea where his soulmate could be. It was depressing.

Chazz sighed and brushed the negative thoughts away. He didn’t have time for them today. He needed to have his brain clear and his wits about him. Today was the day he finally got a chance to wipe that smug look off of Aster Phoneix’s face. He could imagine what the silver-haired duelist would look crushed underfoot, bowing before his superior dueling skills. 

The other duelist had rubbed Chazz wrong ever since his brief stint at Duel Academy. It was everything about Aster from his stupid grey suit and manicured hair to his aloof attitude about everyone. The fact that he’d taken down Zane and then Jaden so easily while Chazz had fought tooth and nail every opportunity certainly didn’t help. 

Chazz wandered into his kitchen, watered his plants, and poured himself a bowl of cereal for breakfast. 

He had come a long way since his early days in the pro-leagues. His first dueling job had been a joke, he’d been nothing more than a mascot for one of the mid-sized duel companies. He was a warm-up act for the bigger names. The pay was so bad that he’d had to work two other jobs just to scrounge enough to pay the rent on his dingy apartment. He’d done it though, despite his brothers’ assertions that he would come crawling back to the family begging them to take him back he never had. He was his own self made man! 

Time had passed and people started taking notice of him- well of his mascot suit- taking down some of the most well-established duelists of the time. It didn’t take long for a smaller firm to track him down and offer him a sponsorship. Turtle Co. couldn’t offer him much; the company was small but tough, still, Chazz was so ecstatic to actually have a sponsor that he jumped on the opportunity. It was far from his end goal of working as a duelist for Kaiba Corp but it was a start. It helped that the CEO a woman named Rebecca was a duelist, a child prodigy, she understood what it was like to have ridiculous expectations thrown on your shoulders and what it meant to shrug them off and choose your own path. 

Rebecca was something else. She took no shit from anyone, not even the bigger firms. Chazz liked her even if sometimes she called him after a duel and shouted at him for being a dramatic idiot and not ending the duel sooner. Chazz always huffed, Rebecca may have been a great duelist -and she was almost always right- but she had no sense of how to work a crowd. The Chazz had a certain standard for the excitement he liked to give the crowd. The audience came to be inspired and Chazz would always deliver. 

Today was his first high profile championship tournament. Sure he’d had to call in favors from Alexis and half a dozen others to get the invitation but today was his big debut! He thumbed his deck lightly, humming to himself. He could tell today was going to be a good day. 

He pulled on his ratty black wool jacket from his North Academy days and tugged it over his shoulders and headed for the door. He would beat all the other competitors and knock Aster Phoneix from his thrown. 

* * *

Aster walked onto the stage with a cheerful wave to the audience. He was dressed in his usual grey suit. He even had his stupid white cravat on. He barely glanced at Chazz before turning to address the crowd, completely ignoring him. Aster’s ego, how had he forgotten to add that to his list of hated traits earlier? Chazz didn’t know how his head fit into the arena with how much hot air he must have in his skull. 

Chazz ground his teeth and shoved his deck into his duel disk. When the cards were down he would show Aster the risks that came with disrespecting Chazz Princeton. Phoenix was about to get his ass kicked! 

After Aster was finished monologuing and thanking sponsors he took his position on the other side of the field. The stadium shrieked its approval. 

“Well, someone’s popular today,” Aster smirked as he activated to the roar of the crowd. 

Chazz felt burning on the inside of his left arm. He hissed as he rolled his sleeve up. There emblazoned on his arm in stupid fancy cursive lettering were the words. His eyes widened and he quickly pulled his jacket down covering the mark. 

“You bastard!” Chazz cursed under his breath. He glared at his opponent.

Aster had known precisely who Chazz was since the first time he’d yelled at the boy on Duel Academy Island. He hadn’t even been brainwashed by the Society of Light at the time. He grits his teeth. That meant Aster had his words and Chazz didn’t even know what they were because the bastard had never even spoken to him! 

The prissy bastard must have known for years and he was choosing to reveal it on national television. If he thought that would stop the Chazz from crushing him and his stupid hero monsters into the floor while the world watched he was dead wrong. If anything it gave him fuel in his belly to win mercilessly. 

Chazz raised his right arm in his usual pre duel antics, “Chazz it up!” He yelled at the crowd. 

“Chazz it up!” His fans echoed. 

Aster rolled his eyes at the exchange and started the duel. 

Chazz’s turn went well enough. It wasn’t bad as far as starting hands went. He laid down some traps summoned a monster that should let him get a more powerful card out on the field in the next two turns. He was known for building his deck around unusual combos, monster types that no one else would think twice about. Some people called his playstyle erratic, especially when it came to his Ojama deck where he would spend almost as much time quietly hissing at the invisible monsters as bantering with his opponent. Despite what others said he was a good strategist. He didn’t play instinctively in the way Jaden did, nor did he play with the mathematical exactness of Bastion, but he was good. 

That was why when Aster cleared his field in his next turn, Chazz bit his tongue to keep from cursing. Chazz was good but there was no denying that Aster was one of the best. 

Chazz fumed. His frustration growing every time Aster managed to avoid one of his combos. The newly tattooed words on his arm burned like a brand. He finally managed to knock a thousand points off of Aster’s life points when he summoned Armed Dragon Lvl. 7. It was about time too. 

The duel dragged on, every turn a quick succession of attacks and counters. Chazz wasn’t going to even pretend he was dueling his best. Every attack was fueled by fury. Even Ojama Yellow who usually delighted in commenting about inane things was nowhere to be found. Was anything he was throwing at Aster rational? No, but damn if it didn’t feel good. The bastard had known, what kind of person left their soulmate hanging?

Years of loneliness left a bitter taste in his mouth. His parent had never been around they had better things to do. They’d thrown him into boarding school after boarding school as soon as he could walk. He was only worth something to his brothers when he was perfect, at his first showing of imperfection they’d left him too. Through it all he’d held onto hope that there was one person out there, his soulmate, that wouldn’t leave him that would be there and them guess what? His soulmate had looked at him and decided he wasn’t worth it made him see red. He didn’t want to win against Aster he wanted to destroy him. 

Chazz took glee when he managed to shave two thousand points more off of Aster. He only had a measly 500 points left himself. Chazz eyed his deck he couldn’t have more than five cards left. He would hate to lose from a deckout. It was going to be a close one. 

The other duelist had stopped smirking. His face was pinched in tight focus as he skimmed his hand. There were none of the usual snide remarks he was known for. Chazz had watched him destroy Zane in one turn. Aster couldn’t be further from that right now. He was on edge and Chazz wasn’t going to stop pushing. 

That’s when the duel turned on its head. Aster played fusion recovery and activated his field spell. It knocked everything out of the field. Aster was left with two monsters with over 3000 attack points and Chazz was left without even a Kuriboh. There was nothing Chazz could do. It was a direct attack on his life points. His counter hit zero and the crowd roared as the monitors proclaimed Aster as the winner. 

For Chazz, it was one more thing to add to his list of failures. Chazz felt robotic as he cleared his duel disk and placed his deck in its case. He walked off the field without even shaking Aster’s hand as common courtesy required. Chazz didn’t want to touch him. He felt numb. 

The hallway was dark and Chazz leaned into the wall, letting it hold him up. It felt like all of the energy had been sucked out of him. His eyes stung and when he rubbed them his fingers came away wet. He wasn’t crying because he lost the duel. That’d be pathetic. He’d probably lost more duels than he’d won at this point. No, it was the frustration and sorrow of another thing he’d put his all into crashing around him because the universe wouldn’t give him a break. 

His cellphone vibrated in his pocket. It was probably Rebecca. He ignored it. 

There was a distinctive tap, tap, tap down the hall of expensive shoes. The type of shoes Chazz had been able to afford once upon a time. Chazz slung his arm over his eyes. There was only one person it could be and Chazz didn’t want Aster to see him like this. He took a shaky breath as the footsteps got closer and blinked the lingering runniness out of his eyes. He had too much pride to let Aster know he’d gotten to him. 

“Let me see them,” Aster demanded. Chazz slowly pulled his arm away from his face, hoping his face didn’t look blotchy in the poor lighting. He blinked, Aster stood in front of him with his arms crossed blocking the hallway. 

“And why should I do that?” Chazz sneered clutching his scripted arm closer to his body. Aster would see the soul mark over his dead body. 

Aster rolled his eyes, “I think we both know that I get what I want. I’m not the best for nothing. I’m going to see them one way or another.” 

“Yeah right,” Chazz bristled, Aster may have won this duel but he played dirty to do it. If he would have told him before the duel or really any time in the last three years before they were going head to head for a duel championship that Chazz had to beg, borrow, and steal to get a chance in, maybe Chazz would have shown him. But now? Now after he’d weaponized the soul mark to ruin his one chance at making it into the big leagues there was no chance in hell. The numbness was disappearing, replaced by barely contained raging vitriol. “The only way you’re ever going to get to see them is when I wave them around while I’m dancing on your grave.” 

Chazz makes a move to shoulder past Aster and back to his dressing room. The shorter man doesn’t budge and instead presses back and Chazz finds himself pinned against the wall. Aster is in his space, his intense blue eyes trying to bore into him. 

Aster takes a deep breath before speaking, “Look, I know this wasn’t ideal-” His voice is low and husky like he’d sung in an opera rather than spend the last hour silently destroying his soulmate’s career. 

“Wasn’t ideal?” Chazz can’t stop the broken laugh that accompanies the question, “What’s one more loser thrown on the pyre by Aster Phoneix? Never mind that I’ve been waiting my whole life to meet my soulmate and the one person that’s supposed to care would rather use it to beat me on national television. I thought I was done with that shit when I beat Slade and Jagger. But yeah, I guess you could say it wasn’t ideal!” 

Aster seems frozen as Chazz finally breaks away from him. His feet quickly take him the rest of the way to his dressing room and he shoves his few personal artifacts into his backpack. He doesn’t even bother changing out of his sweaty duel attire as he heads for the exit. He’s in flight mode. 

His phone rings again he turns it off and shoves it in his pocket. He can’t deal with Rebecca right now. 

* * *

When Chazz climbs the three flights of stairs to his apartment all he wants to do is collapse into his bed and crawl under the blankets. He takes his deck out of his pocket and places it in the safe with the rest of his cards. They’re by far the most precious thing in this apartment. Next comes his black trench coat thrown haphazardly on his desk chair in passing. He doesn’t bother with the rest of his clothes as he throws himself on his bed. 

He grimaces as he fishes his cell phone out of his pocket and pushes down on the power button. It takes a minute before the phone fully reboots. He has six missed phone calls from Rebecca all with accompanying voice messages. There’s a dozen other messages from his friends too. He’ll deal with them later. First, he needs to see if he still has a job. 

He’s a man he can do this. Chazz thumbs the redial number next to Rebecca’s number. The phone rings once before it’s abruptly cut off by an angry female voice. 

“Chazz what the hell-”

“He was my soulmate,” Chazz says flatly, cutting off her shrill voice, “I know I dueled poorly. If you’re going to fire me go ahead and do it. I don’t care.” 

“I’m not going to fire you, jeez always so dramatic. Your soulmate? So uh, you alright? I’ve never seen you so pissed at someone you’re dueling before.” 

“It’s fine I don't want to talk about it.” And he really doesn’t. Not to Rebecca and not with anyone else right now. 

“Alright, by order of the boss take the rest of the week off.” 

“Bu-” Chazz can’t do that. He had duels scheduled. Before he can even start his protests Rebecca is shushing him. 

“Shhh, I won’t take no for an answer mandatory paid mental health days so shut up and I don’t want to see you until Monday.”

“Okay.”

“Good. Take care of yourself we’ll talk Monday.” Then there’s the click of Rebecca hanging up. Chazz lets out a nervous breath he wasn’t aware he was holding. At least he wasn’t going to have to go back to working night shifts at the Buy Mart. 

Chazz then opens up his text messages. He has two from Jaden congratulating him on the good duel with lots of emojis. Syrus and Hassleberry both were blowing up the group chat with memes of Aster and diatribes of unflattering stories about the prissy boy from his Society of Light days. Chazz closed it. Maybe he would look at it later when reading the name Aster didn’t feel like someone was shoving a dull butter knife into his chest. 

The next three texts were harder to ignore. 

Alexis sent him a short: _U OK?_

Chazz shot back an affirmation. Telling her that they would talk later. If anyone had the brain to help him sort this out it would be Alexis. Even though they’d never been soulmates like Chazz had wished back in his Deul Academy days they’d moved on to a nice friendship. He felt comfortable telling her things about his past in a way he just couldn’t with Jaden or Syrus. 

The next text was short and to the point. Zane texted him: _my sympathies._

He snorted. To be honest out of everyone Zane probably understood it best. Sure Jaden had lost, but Jaden always bounced back. Zane had as well, eventually, but he’d paid the price. He didn’t duel anymore because of Aster. 

Chazz quickly types out: _Yeah I see why you needed a Hell Kaiser phase after being on stage with him._ He hits send. 

The last number is unfamiliar but it simply reads: _We need to talk._

Chazz doesn’t know how Aster got his number since as far as he was aware the other duelist hadn’t made much of an attempt to stay in touch with anyone from the Academy even after the Dark World debacle. Chazz deletes the message and sets the phone on his bedside table. 

He threads his fingers behind his head. How had today gone so wrong? He was too scared to see what the duel net had to say about that disaster. He sighed maybe he could ask Bastion for a temperature check before Monday. 

There’s a sharp knock at his door. Chazz rolls over and throws a pillow over his ears. He will not be getting up for the next twelve hours. He has a right to wallow and berate the universe for doing this to him. 

The knocking continues. Louder this time. After a few minutes, it's quiet and Chazz smiles good whoever it was got the memo he wasn’t home. 

Something shakes his window. Then there’s a pop. Chazz jolts up at the noise, clutching the pillow to his chest like it could be used as a weapon. He zeroes in on the glass. His eyes are wide as they catch movement outside the window. Then the window is sliding open without any resistance. There sitting on his now open windowsill is Aster Phoniex. The man swings his legs in as graceful as a cat as he hops fully into his bedroom. 

“You broke into my bedroom.” Chazz’s brain is not processing. 

“Yes well you weren’t answering your door and I got worried that you might do something drastic. Jaden said the last time you lost this bad you ran away to the Arctic and nearly died.” Aster is straightening his shirt like this is business as usual. Then Chazz’s brain latches onto Jaden’s name. 

“That slacker! I bet he gave you my number too. I’m going to kill him! My apartment is on the third floor.” Chazz feels his emotions swell from anger to confusion. Was this really happening? How did Aster get up to a third-story window? It’s not like he had a fire escape. 

“Yes, I noticed.” Aster is smiling now, “Do you always state the obvious?”

“Get out!” Chazz splutters. He wasn’t supposed to have to do this now. 

“I don’t think so Chazzy. We need to talk and you ran away from the tournament before we could finish our discussion.”

Chazz feels his face flush hot in anger, “I don’t have anything to say to a cheating hack like you!”

Aster’s eyes narrow, “I can understand why you’re angry.” 

Chazz grits his teeth. He highly doubts that. 

“Yeah, you want to tell me why I’m angry then? I think I might just be too stupid compared to the Great Aster Phoneix to figure it out.” He spits. 

Aster sighs and slumps into his desk chair. Chazz bristles as he crushes his favorite coat in the process, “Look would you believe me if I said I didn’t know it was you?”

“Fat chance!” 

“I wouldn’t do that! I have my own integrity as a duelist after all!” 

“Do you? Because the first time I ever saw you duel you were pretending to be some nameless freshman trying to get info on Jaden by dueling him. Then you go and claim the slacker whose been using Hero monsters as long as I’ve known him is copying your deck!? You’re an asshole. You always have been. I would trust your integrity about as much as I trust the Ojamas to watch my house.” Chazz throws the pillow at Aster’s stupid too calm face. 

The other catches it with ease and sets it on his lap, “Look Chazz, I know that in the past I haven’t always acted in the best way to you or your friends-”

“I spent half my freshman year as a brainwashed cult leader because of you and your boss!” 

“And I apologize! Just listen-”

“No, you listen!” Chazz can’t take it anymore he’s on his face and he has his finger ready to jab into Aster’s chest, “I’ve been waiting my whole life to meet my soulmate. They were supposed to be someone that cared not you!”

Aster’s mask breaks and his eyebrows dive into a glare, “And you don’t think I’ve been waiting too! I tried to figure it out and I couldn’t alright. Then your face in the duel. I don’t know how I didn’t realize I’d never talked to you directly before.” 

“Probably because you're an outrageous asshole who thinks everyone is beneath you! I emailed you senior spring asking to intern at your agency and you told me and I quote: ‘I would have better luck training a cat to be my personal assistant.’

His face twists into a grimace, “And I regret that now.” 

“Why don’t you go find a cat to be your soulmate too!” 

Aster lets out a pent up huff, “Would you listen for one second?” 

Chazz turns to go back to his bed. Maybe if he covers his head with a blanket he’ll wake up from this nightmare. He pinches himself. Aster reaches out and wraps his hand around Chazz’s exposed wrist, preventing him from moving back. The touch feels electric and Chazz’s eyes widen. The sensation is thrumming in his veins. He feels like a circuit he can’t even find the energy to move away and break the connection. Part of him doesn’t want to. A small voice in Chazz’s head is telling him to move closer into Aster’s lap to make the sensation grow.

Aster is the one who breaks the contact a look of wonder on his face. 

Chazz blinks back into full control, “Whoa. What was that?”

“Our bond is trying to stabilize. It usually happens in the first 24 hours of getting a soulbond, but since it took you almost three years to get yours after I got mine it seems it's a little bit out of control. People usually describe it as a tingle.” Aster has his hands carefully clutched together. “Look Chazz I want to make this work please can you just hear me out?” 

“Fine,” Chazz says. It would be pointless to deny this wasn’t happening, “But I get to ask the questions. First, what are your words? Second, when did you get them? And if I find out you’re lying about any of this, let’s just say I don’t think you’ll like dealing with Atticus Rhodes.” 

“Noted. It’ll be easier to show you,” Aster rolls his shoulders, sighs, and begins to unknot his cravat. Next, come the top two buttons of his dress shirt as the man pulls the navy blue cloth away from his collar. Chazz finds himself involuntarily blushing again, this time for entirely different reasons. At the nap of Aster’s neck in Chazz’s chicken scratch are the words _I told you we’re not alike._ They certainly weren’t the most flattering words. 

“I got them the first time I went to Duel Academy. At first, I thought it was Syrus, though I didn’t know his name at the time. It obviously wasn’t Jaden, even someone as dense as him would notice the burn of getting a soul mark in the middle of a duel. I wasn’t aware of anyone else there at the time and I planned to come back to Duel Academy later to mingle with students and find them- you, but then I got carried away with Satoris and finding my Father’s murderer. I always assumed it was someone in Jaden’s circle but I didn’t realize we’d never actually spoken before today.”

“I.. I was watching the duel from the cliff. I-” Chazz feels his cheeks heat even further, “i may have a habit of yelling things at duelists while they’re dueling even if they can’thearme.” The last words come out as a rush in his embarrassment. 

“Cute,” Aster cocks his head to the side and gives him an assessing look that sends shiver’s down Chazz’s spine, “So I’ve been waiting for an extra three years because you can’t control your mouth. Good to know.”

Chazz crosses his arms and narrows his eyes, “And I’ve had to wait an extra three years because my soulmate is an obnoxious stuck-up asshole!”

Aster bursts out laughing. Chazz doesn’t find their circumstances nearly as funny. 

“I suppose the only thing to do is to make up for lost time.” The Asshole has the gaul to pat his thigh like he expects Chazz to climb into his lap. 

Chazz scoffs and glares, “Hell no. You’ll be lucky if I get close to you in the next year. You just ruined my shot at getting into the pro league!”

Aster’s face scrunches in confusion, “Is that why you were so angry in our duel? I thought it had to do with your assumptions about us being soulmates. I thought you knew..” Chazz glares and opens his mouth to respond. Aster cuts him off, “Chazz that was the closest duel I’ve had all season. The crowd was ecstatic. They loved you.”

Chazz clicks his mouth shut not sure what to say, “But I lost…”

Aster flips his phone open. In a quick flurry of taps, he has a headline pulled up and is shoving it into Chazz’s hands. “They’re calling you the next Joey Wheeler. The underdog is always a fan favorite. The ratings and reblogs for our duel is setting records.” 

Chazz swallows slowly. That was… He went back to Koogle and skimmed the headlines. There were dozens all positive. 

Aster was grinning again. Chazz had to admit that he didn’t totally hate it. “Besides even if you lost, you're still my loser. Now I showed you mine, you show me yours.” 

Chazz stammered trying to make words come out of his mouth over the embarrassment he felt over that poorly worded innuendo. Eventually, he gave up and rolled up the sleeve on his turtle neck revealing the words _Someone’s popular today._

Aster reached out tracing his fingers lightly across the cursive words. As soon as their skin touched the electricity was back. It was more intense this time, and Chazz didn’t even try to stop Aster when he tugged his arm forward, and Chazz fell clumsily across his lap. Aster hummed happily and began to thread his fingers through his dark hair. It felt wonderful. If Chazz was a cat, he’d be purring as it was he was trying to not be overwhelmed by the smell of Aster’s cedar cologne. It was smoky and Chazz’s brain wanted to wrap itself in it. 

“You know you’re not what I was expecting but I’m glad it was you.” Aster’s voice is calm but it has a warmth that the other man usually doesn’t let slip past his mask. 

“Yeah.” Chazz hums in agreement. 

“You’ve got a really great way with words there, soulmate.” 

The feeling of electricity from their soulbond was ebbing, “And you still broke into my bedroom like some kind of pervert, soulmate.” Chazz grumbled. He still wasn’t sure the universe was right about his soulmate but he could at least give it a try right?


End file.
